All Reviews

Here and there I have tried some socks on Ali, looking for a good cycling sock. Most are pure nylon - stifling, uncomfortable pieces of meh. I found these to be pretty poor:

Then I hit the jackpot. These are really good - about 1/3 cotton, poly, and nylon (and a bit of spandex). Not super cheap, but 1/4 of the price of the norm.

Wanted to test my dental plan so I ordered up some $40 carbon bars in April last year. They arrived quickly and were immediately put into service on my gravel bike and taken to a 100 mile race that included pavement, gravel, and single track trails. They have since been through nearly 4000 miles of duty on the trainer and out in the real world on everything from fresh pavement to smoother blue rated MTB trails. Color me shocked, but they are still going strong. They are also pretty dang comfortable. I am 165cm and 53kg. I ordered the 370-510MM model and have them installed on an all aluminum everything Kona Rove AL.

I would wait until me and the other user here receive our frames as there has been what seems like some decent delays in shipping. Mine has been stuck at awaiting flight since the 24th.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007696367264.html

offers the frame in 3 tiers, the third tier being the highest quality closest to a real one, the one in Oralmaster's photos that he said he could not feel the difference between a test ride of a real one and his tier 3 version. I have ordered the same one, actually identical to oralmasters size and color by chance lol.

I knew you'd race in here to say that lol. Mechanic had nothing to say but good things, really liked the BBinfinite quality (not F-C related I know). Not much else I can say he test road it and gushed over it but I haven't yet, 6.8kg with TPU tubes and could probably shave more off with new wheels as these are the 3 year old Hypers. No mention of BB issues as I said I was concerned I couldn't fully hand screw it in when I was messing around with it without grease. It was just good to go news from the mechanic besides waiting for the longer rear brake caliper bolts. I hope my detailed journey helps people. But from what I can see F-C puts out a legit frame, I would say better than a lot of the stuff we see here but you do pay a premium. My final thoughts after using a endoscope on the frame was probably just the loose fibers where the BB goes that the other user had, mine had a few of those but other than that the v1 feels almost like a dead copy to my eye, and perhaps even ride quality as @Oralmaster said he test rode a real one and couldn't tell the difference. So other than the super long delay on shipping due to the postal strike and the couple fibres inside the BB I'd give it a pre-ride rating of 9/10.

I can only recommend the one i dealt with which is F-C who has shown to deliver reproducible quality, they also seem to only focus on two frames (the blurred out Pinarello TT frame and the Factor) soon to be the v2 Factor. Whereas Taiwan Eisen is selling every single high end frame copy, I'd trust the store/reseller who focuses on one specific thing over the one saying they can perfectly produce you a Colnago fake, Madone fake, SL8's etc. After seeing the interior of the other frame in here there is definitely not just 1 factory pumping all these Ostro V1's out, they are very different quality interiors.

Finally have build back of F-C Ostro V1 and the final tally is 6.8kg with all goods attached except the rear light/mount. Ostro V1 Tier 3 DuraAce 9200 groupset with 165mm cranks carbon bottle cages 90x400 bars Favero PM pedals BB Infinite T47A bottom bracket Winspace Hyper 45s early gen models weather here is way too cold so no ride report yet.

Great cargo bike for a great price point compared to the alternative. Easy to transport 2 children between 5-10 years. More in a blog post soon.

Purchased: 2023-12-01

Works!

Purchased: 2023-01-01

Works. Already ordered a second batch for frequent maintenance.

Purchased: 2023-03-31

SPEXCEL 22 insulated Jacket Explore 3 Season Windproof And Thermal Fleece Inside Cycling Jacket 2 layer With Chest Pocket
This one is pretty good to be honest. The thermal fleece is just at the front, which is sufficient. Sizing is pretty good so, typically asian sizes, I went 1 size up to my European one. Kept me dry on some spray rain for 15-20 minutes.
Biggest disadvantage: the back pockets are why to high, made them practically unreachable. I can barely grab into the one across the back, the middle one - no chance.